France

[FR] CSA Deliberation

IRIS 2008-8:1/21

Aurélie Courtinat

On 17 June 2008, the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (national audiovisual regulatory authority – CSA) published a deliberation on the exposure of tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and illegal drugs on the airwaves. Faced with the increased presence of tobacco, drugs and alcohol on television and radio, the CSA, as part of its mission to preserve public health and with the support of the Mission Interministérielle de Lutte contre la Drogue et la Toxicomanie (inter-ministerial mission to combat drugs and drug addiction – MILDT), has laid down the conditions for representing these substances on the air, aimed more particularly at preventing any propaganda and any incitement to their consumption.

In application of the Public Health Code, it lays down specific provisions for the audiovisual sector it regulates. Thus it prohibits images of people consuming drugs, recalling the definition given in the Public Health Code, and any positive or ambiguous description of the consumption of drugs, except for information programmes, documentaries and fiction programmes, in which the CSA indeed requires there to be no incitement, although it respects the authors’ freedom of creation. The declared aim is to prevent any trivialisation of the use of illegal drugs. The CSA therefore enjoins television services, when they broadcast risky programmes, to include a warning that “the use of drugs is a health hazard and breaks the law” and to give the telephone number of a drug help-line ( Drogues Info Service ). The CSA is also considering the application of suitable signing, in application of its recommendation of 7 June 2005 on signing for young people and programme classification.

The CSA went on to recall that it will not tolerate any reference to tobacco in advertising and sponsoring, except for campaigns to counter tobacco misuse. Applying the Evin Act [which restricts the places where smoking is allowed], the CSA recalls that smoking is not allowed in enclosed covered areas, which therefore includes on sets and in studios. Beyond these warnings on the prohibition of incitement in images of or references to tobacco, the CSA pays particular attention to tele-reality broadcasts, “in view of their considerable impact on a young audience”. It therefore asks that the broadcasting of images of participants smoking in open areas be avoided, and also takes the opportunity to recommend that participants do not consume alcohol excessively or regularly.

As far as alcohol is concerned, the CSA recalls that advertising is not allowed on television and is only tolerated on radio at certain times of day, on condition that it is followed by a health warning. Whereas fiction works, documentaries and information programmes have the benefit of a specific regime, in the light of the need for information and respect for the freedom of creation, the CSA is still tempted by the use of signing for young people and is proposing that the television channels keep to appropriate times of day for broadcasting video clips carrying a risk of trivialising the consumption of alcohol.